Well here we are already in February, time marches on as does our club. Our new website is up and running thanks to Geoff G8SPG and Tracey M5ATR. Many events for this year have been confirmed and more exam passes for us, thanks to all the training team. I've had a couple of visits to the doctors recently, nothing serious thankfully but I'm apparently short of vitamin D!!! Bring on the sunshine HI HI.

AT THE G4DXWorkers QTH.
So far this year my total countries worked is 58. In the club log CDXC DX marathon challenge I'm 18th out of a total of 189 that
have entered but I guess as the year goes on I'll be falling down the list HA HA!! Just a few of the better DX in the log are, 12m, 5B4 Cyprus. 17m, A6 UAE and OD5 Lebanon. 20m, 3DA0 Swaziland, V51 Namibia, J5 Guinea Bissau, YB Indonesia, A7 Qatar, A9 Bahrain, W6 California, VE Canada and J6 Saint Lucia. I wonder how many countries will be in the log by the time I do the
next chat!! See you all on Wednesday, 73 es Gd dx Ron

At the QTH of G8XLH
This time the QSL of the month goes to my FT8 Digital Station. Although I have not been so active on this mode, I decided to fire
up the station and worked: - 9K2GS Kuwait, EK1KE Armenia, ER1PB Moldovia, A92AA Bahrain.

Next Meeting-28th February -Dave G4ETG
Dave will give us a demo and talk on "The Lower Frequency Bands" and it mainly covers his experiences with 630mtrs with a mention of 2200mtrs. For this talk Dave will be using two receivers and a Dual Band Oscilloscope……..

Special Events Team Information (SETI)

THE EVENTS SEASON HAS BEGUN!!!!

The events Team led by Peter G6AYU (Events Manager) and Tony G0IAG (Publicity) wish to report that a number of special events have been confirmed for this year which are:-

1st April 2018 RAF 100 Anniversary- GB0LRS (Langtoft Radar Station)
The club are organising a Special event station to celebrate 100 years of the RAF on 1st April, from Market Deeping Scout and Guide HQ. Wellington Way, Market Deeping PE6 8DW. The callsign will be GB0LRS. The venue is the old Mess Hall that was part of RAF Langtoft, which was a WW2 Radar Station.

Help will be needed Saturday pm 31st March for some of the set up and more sitting up on Sunday April 1st early AM. The event runs 10-4ish on the Sunday. Help will be needed all day Sunday to operate HF or VHF stations, meet and greet the public and explain what the event is about so plenty of volunteers please. Station break down will be Sunday PM . Please contact Events Team for more details

The site was a former RAF Radar Station, Ground Controlled Interception (GCI) radar station at Langtoft. GCI stations were developed by the Air Ministry from 1940 to detect, locate and track enemy aircraft and provide inland radar coverage of Britain. Langtoft opened in April 1941 and initially functioned as a Transportable station reporting to Wittering Fighter Sector. Transportable stations comprised transmitter and receiver aerial arrays mounted on gantries spaced no more than 220ft (67.1 metres) apart, with operations carried out from trucks or temporary hutting. In 1943 the site was developed into a Final GCI station. Final or AMES Type 7 stations comprised a single rotating aerial array with transmitter equipment stored beneath in an underground well, plus an operations block, a standby set house for reserve power, and a guard hut for the site entrance. In the early 1950s it was substantially rebuilt as part the Rotor programme to modernise the United Kingdom's radar defences. The station was fitted with Type 7 Mark 2 radar head for local search and control, two Type 14 (Marks 8 and 9) plan positioning radar heads, and two Type 13 Mark 6 and three Type 13 Mark 7 height finder radar heads, all mounted on plinths and 25 feet gantries. A semi-submerged, two-storey R6 operations block and a guardhouse designed to resemble a bungalow were constructed at the site. In the mid-late 1950s a Type 80 modulator building was built, but it appears that the radar head was never installed. The station closed in 1958 and the site was sold to a private owner in the mid-1960s. The guardhouse stands on the south side of Langtoft Drain Road and has been converted into a private house. Surface features surviving at the site include three radar plinths, a Type 80 building and the brick-built Happidrome. A Type 7 underground building also survives.

Other Special Events confirmed are:-

 11th to 13th May 2018 Mills on the Air
 15th to 17th June Museums on the Air
 4th and 5th August 2018 Baston in the Blitz
 8th September 2018 CHOTA-Operating from Peterborough Cathedral

Training courses.
We have just finished running a Foundation Course. The youngest students were aged 10 and 11. For the first time we ran the exam “on-line” with the help of borrowed equipment from the RSGB. The candidates thought the process was better than the Optical Marking System. Subject to approval by the committee to purchase a 3G/4G Router and a prepaid Sim card we should be able to offer more online exams if the delegates can provide their own laptops.

Extra Meetings 2nd Wednesday of the month
The next extra meeting will be 14th March Colin G8TMV. Colin is G8TMV & Deputy regional manager and will give a talk about
"Quartzmite" a surface mount version of the Rockmite and also the winter briefing from the RSGB.
http://www.tuckley.org/qmite/index.html

Club Program at Club QTH (2018) 4th Wednesday of the Month
 March 28th Restoring Vintage Radios –Tony Thompson
 April 25th EGM/AGM
 May 23rd M0CVO Antennas

We found a volunteer
We were looking for a club member to run our on-line exam facility and I am pleased that John G4HPW has volunteered for the post of On-Line Invigilator. John is currently researching a suitable 3G/4G router and SIM card.

Club Meetings: - 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the Month.
Annual membership is £10 pa and covers items like insurance and club equipment. Free membership is available for those under 18 and in full time education. Subs are due in April at the AGM.

Parking at club QTH
Unfortunately parking is quite tight at the club. We have tried to negotiate additional parking at the school but failed to make any
progress. So do not park at the school even if the barrier is up, as you could be locked in until the following morning.
There is a public carpark (Glatton Drive) which is closer than the shops and has a walkway which brings you out close to the club QTH.